The Skinny: Senators 5, Islanders 3

Sergei Gonchar scored the game-winning goal with one minute to play as the Ottawa Senators scored four goals in the third period to rally from a 3-1 deficit and defeated the Islanders 5-3 before a crowd of 10,668 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, dropping the Isles back to .500 (13-13-3).

The Isles fall to 8-2-1 when leading after two periods … Matt Moulson has an assist in five straight games; he leads the Isles with 19 assists and now has 200 career points in an Islander uniform … Brad Boyes now has 10 points in the last eight games (4-6-10) …The Isles defense has combined for 16 goals this season … Josh Bailey scored his 50th career goal; he also had his first multi-point game of the season … The Isles have been outscored by a 42-30 margin in the third period, including 29-16 at home … Kyle Okposo played his 300th NHL game … Sergei Gonchar tied the Senator club record with an assist in his eighth straight game; he also finished +5 … Daniel Alfredsson’s assist on the empty-netter was his 1,100th NHL point …The Isles have now allowed seven empty-net goals…The Sens scored twice in 1:08, and twice in 51 seconds (all in the third period).

The Record:

The Isles are now four games over .500 on the road and four games under .500 at home. It’s the first time in Islander history that they have not been over .500 overall at a time when they were four games over .500 on the road.

The Shots:

Isles 9-12-8=29

Senators 6-7-10=23

The Disputed Goals:

The Isles had a goal disallowed after video review determined that Keith Aucoin kicked the puck into the net with his skate. The play can be seen here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=15461

The puck was apparently knocked down by a Senator high stick and was next played by a teammate, leading to the winning goal. That play is not reviewable.

Gonchar’s Night

Sergei Gonchar was on for all five Sens goals, finished 1-2-3 and +5 on the night. He is the first player in the NHL with at least three points and a plus-5 rating this season. Gonchar is the first player to be at least plus-5 in a game against the Isles since January 13, 2011; Gonchar also did it that night. The last player to have at least three points and go plus-5 against the Isles was Olli Jokinen (2-4-6, +6, on March 17, 2007 for Florida).

Gonchar is now 17-48-65 in his career against the Isles (plus-31 in 77 games). He is plus-10 in his career against the rest of the NHL.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 13-13-3 overall, 5-9-2 at home and 8-4-1 on the road. The Isles remain in tenth place, trailing four teams by three points.

The Senators are 16-8-6 overall, 10-1-3 at home and 6-7-3 on the road. The Sens are just below .500 on the road, despite not leading a single road game this season after 20 minutes.

Ben Bishop made 26 saves for the Senators; he is now 6-4-0 on the season.

Power Plays

The Islanders went 1-for-6 while the Senators were 0-for-1. It’s the second straight game that the opposition had only one power play.

The Isles have 13 PP goals in their last 14 games (with all 13 goals coming in six games).

The Isles are 10-3-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-10-2 when they do not.

In (Almost) Every Game

The Isles have been tied or ahead in the third period in 23 of 29 games this season (13-7-3).

They Said It

"I didn't see it as a distinct kicking motion. I was going to the net hard and I had to stop. There's nothing you can do. The ref called it a goal on the ice, and when they were reviewing it [in Toronto], I didn't think there was any doubt it would be a goal."

They Tweeted It

@ian_mendes “Only four defensemen in Sens history have ever had 3 points and a +5 rating in same game: Redden, Volchenkov, Karlsson -- and now Gonchar.”

The Coach

"The game-winning goal they got should have been a whistle. It was a high stick and Ottawa touched it first."

As Tavares Goes…

The Isles are 1-0-0 when Tavares has four points, 1-0-1 when he has three points, 5-2-0 when he has two points, 5-2-0 when he has one point, and 1-9-2 when Tavares is pointless.

What a Pair!

John Tavares and Matt Moulson have combined for 28 goals this season. Moulson has assisted on 12 Tavares goals this season after assisting on 12 of his 31 goals last season. Tavares has earned an assist on seven Moulson goals this season. Since November 2011, Tavares has been on-ice for 39 of Moulson’s last 40 goals, earning 25 assists. Since November 2010, he has earned 47 assists on Moulson’s last 71 goals, while being on ice for 69 of them.

Head of the Class

John Tavares has 233 career points; he is 52 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.

114 NHL Goals

Moulson has 114 career goals (108 as an Islander). While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, only 17 have more goals. Moulson is one goal behind Nikolai Zherdev for 16th place.

Leading Ice Men

Lubomir Visnovsky played 27:21 to lead the Isles. Chris Phillips led the Sens with 27:54.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 32-of-57 draws. Frans Nielsen won 8-of-12 for the Isles.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders out-hit Florida 34-23. Kyle Okposo led the Isles with five hits. Matt Martin had three hits, raising his season total to an NHL-leading 141. There were no fights, leaving the Isles’ season total at 11.

Giving Up the Body

The Isles were credited with 15 blocked shots. Lubomir Visnovsky led the Isles with five blocks.

All-time Winners

The Islanders are now two games over .500 all-time (1360-1358-435 in 3153 games). The Isles have been one game below .500 twice last season and four times this season. Prior to that, they had not been below .500 since they were 177-178-83 before their victory on January 16, 1978.

March to Victory

The Isles were 4-2-1 in January and 4-9-1 in February. The Isles are 5-2-1 in March.

Ironmen

Matt Moulson, the Isles’ reigning ironman, has played in all 275 games since joining the team. Moulson’s streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era. Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.

Three other Islanders (Frans Nielsen, John Tavares and Mark Streit) also played in every game last season. Tavares extended his streak to 188 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 111.

The Isles have scored 55 goals in their 13 wins (4.23 per game) and 29 goals in their other 16 games (0-13-3; 1.81 per game). In their 13 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 20 goals (1.54 per game).

The Sens win the season series two games to one (and five points to two). The Isles did not defeat Ottawa in regulation. The Isles are 2-5-0 against the Sens in the last two seasons, with one victory in overtime and the other in a shootout.

Also on this date: Rookie Matt Hallin posts a three-goal game (1983 in Philadelphia); Frans Nielsen has a deciding goal in a shootout win at Florida (2011).

All-time, the Isles are 9-4-3 on March 19, although they are 1-2-1 in their last four.

On The Farm

Bridgeport is 26-25-6-4 on the season after blanking Albany 2-0 on Sunday. Brock Nelson and Nino Niederreiter had the goals while Rick DiPietro recorded the shutout. The Sound Tigers are six points out of a playoff spot with 15 games to play. Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they visit Providence in the first of a three-in-three weekend.

Up Next

THURSDAY, MARCH 21 MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS (7:00PM)

[MSG+ (pre-game show at 6:30), WRHU (88.7FM)]

The Isles continue the home stand on Thursday with the final meeting of the season against the Montreal Canadiens. The Isles won in overtime in Montreal and hold a regulation win on Long Island as well.

Montreal lost to Buffalo in overtime on Tuesday, but the Canadiens are 13-1-4 in their last 18 games, with their only regulation loss in that stretch coming against the Isles on March 5.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in “The Skinny” has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter.